Rob has had a busy time with Hyde Sails over the last year but is now back in the J/80 class with his new boat J2X. The first regatta for the new team line up, comprising of Rob, Nick Barnes (World's crew 2009), Dave Freemantle and Hyde's Martin Newman was the blustery National Championship, sponsored by Tacktick and held in Dartmouth last month. The twenty-six boat fleet reveled in a variety of conditions across the eight race championship series, from a full on 30 knot foam-up on the first day through to a much more manageable 10 to 12 knots on the final Friday.

Starting your boat tuning at a National Championship is not ideal, but J2X found good form towards the end of the regatta winning a total of three races and placed second overall by a healthy margin. Unfortunately this was not enough to beat reigning champion Kevin Sproul aboard J.A.T.

Rob has also specified a Barton 21200 winch for the Jib halyard. Made of glass fibre re-inforced nylon it offers superior weight saving over other leading brands at just 835 grams and is incredibly easy to maintain. Check out information about our composite winches by clicking here.

The Boomstrut, which is extremely beneficial to J/80 racers, primarily supports and lifts the boom whilst instantly responding to the kicker and offers perfect leech control. The Barton part number for this special Boomstrut is 99040, available through Key Yachting and all good chandlers worldwide. For further information on the Barton Boomstrut click here

STOP PRESS: J2X leave the Royal Southern Regatta with an untarnished record of 3 x 1st place - a clean sweep!